As he recovers from his latest injury setback, Unai Emery will be hoping Aston Villa defender Diego Carlos can offer him a consistent and reliable option for the remainder of the campaign.
The 30-year-old was forced off in the first half of our defeat at Liverpool earlier this month, and he has subsequently missed games against Crystal Palace and Legia Warsaw.
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As per the Athletic’s Jacob Tanswell, Emery revealed after our defeat in Poland in our Europa Conference League opener on Thursday evening that he hopes the Brazilian centre-half will be back training with the rest of the squad within the next week.
It’s hoped that timeline holds up and Carlos is perhaps available to face Everton in the Carabao Cup next Wednesday, or at least is in contention when we host Brighton next weekend, but it’s imperative now that he is able to be a consistent presence in the side moving forward.
That felt more prevalent in midweek in Warsaw. Having suffered the devastating blow of losing Tyrone Mings for most, if not all, of this season, there is a major void that needs to be filled in the heart of the Villa defence.
Not only has that taken away a leader from the side, but we sorely miss his physical and commanding stature in the backline. Pau Torres provides technical quality, composure and defensive strengths, but we’ve seen that he still has work to do on the latter part to be a more robust option.
Ezri Konsa, fresh from signing a new long-term contract, remains a fundamental pillar of the side, but Carlos has a clear and key role to play too, not only because of the qualities that he brings to the side, but the knock-on effect he has for others.
Emery showed in pre-season that he wants to play with three centre-halves in the side, thus allowing us to switch to a back-three in possession, and particularly with Alex Moreno closing in on a return, he will provide a more consistent and decisive attacking threat down the left flank that suits our system and style of play better.
While we’ve seen Matty Cash tuck inside and play as part of that three at times, and Boubacar Kamara even did it against Crystal Palace last weekend, having that trio of Konsa, Carlos and Torres, gives us a solid foundation that in turns allows others to be as influential as possible in their more natural roles.
Further, Carlos is of course a physical unit, but he pairs that with composure and class on the ball. In a game like Thursday’s where we needed more control and to impose ourselves better in a difficult environment, we missed what he’s capable of bringing to the backline.
Our best performance over 90 minutes in the Premier League so far this season was arguably the win at Burnley, as although we of course impressed in a 4-0 victory at home against Everton, the opposition wasn’t as challenging.
Similarly, we also impressed in a 5-0 away win at Hibernian in the first leg of our Europa Conference League qualifying round tie. Again, on that evening we played with Torres, Carlos and Konsa all in defence.
While we have the personnel, tactical flexibility and versatility to find other solutions, there is arguably a real case that having Moreno, Torres, Carlos and Konsa at the back week in and week out, especially in the absence of Mings, could be integral to our success this season.